Don’t Fall for Big Tech’s ‘We Must Steal to Compete with China in AI’ Rhetoric
Big Tech is seeking to profit from others’ work without compensation and is attempting to persuade Washington to legitimize this appropriation as a matter of national interest.
The primary concern is the employment of copyrighted materials for AI training: The legal framework clearly indicates that tech companies must compensate for such use.
A recent federal court decision in Thomson Reuters v. ROSS reinforced this principle: Ross Intelligence, Inc. utilized Thomson’s Westlaw product to enhance its own legal research tools, arguing it was allowed under the “fair use” doctrine for free utilization of other intellectual properties.
The Third Circuit disagreed: “Fair use” applies (for instance) when quoting a New York Times editorial to refute it, or a critic referencing a song from a musical to illustrate its strengths or weaknesses.
It does not permit the utilization of someone’s intellectual property to compete against them.
Following that ruling, both Google and OpenAI reached out to the White House advocating for a revision of copyright laws as part of an “action plan” to enhance U.S. AI development; otherwise, they argue, China may triumph in the AI competition.
Clearly, they seek exemptions from all other pesky regulations — and perhaps free electricity and unapproved use of others’ properties: It’s all about outpacing Beijing!
Despite the president appointing Silicon Valley insider David Sacks as the AI czar, we anticipate that Team Trump will see through this nonsense: Investment in AI development is surging into the billions; these companies can afford to compensate fairly for others’ work.
In fact, News Corp, the parent company of Post, last year established a deal, reportedly worth $250 million (with strict intellectual-property protections), to license certain content to OpenAI.
Meanwhile, The New York Times has initiated a lawsuit against ChatGPT’s creator for copyright infringement, while Alden Global Capital (owner of the Daily News, Denver Post, Chicago Tribune, and others) is advancing its own legal action against OpenAI and Microsoft.
Enormous investments are being funneled into AI research; Big Tech can easily afford to pay for the resources it requires from other sectors — it neither needs nor is entitled to a privileged right to appropriate.
